Thursday, May 4, 2017

Same old same old

I just read in the WaPo that the House narrowly voted to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. I hope that the Trumpster understands that the replacement will be known as Trump Care. He's already made noises about his not liking that name. I'm sure he would rather it be called Ryan Care. So Trump Care it must and will be.

I was reading in the Economist that Steve Mnuchin is saying that the anticipated rise in productivity amongst the plebeian, due to a tax cut for the wealthier among us, will fund that tax cut and in fact the deficit will shrink because of all of the money that will pour in. I know I've heard it before...but I'm old, and a lot of citizens haven't heard it and to them it sounds magical! It is, in a way, because it was called Voodoo Economics way back then. Now Steve Mnuchin isn't all that old either, but he knows the term well and he knows that what he said was a lie. If he doesn't know that, he really should have flunked Economics 101.

This plan of his might work if world affairs didn't affect us. But they do. We are not immune to being influenced by events half the world away. This is not the beginning of the 20th century when the United States was able to produce just about everything it needed.

There are dozens of countries around the world that hitched their economies to oil and they are now seeing rioting in the streets because their economy collapsed. Who knew that was coming? We survived the oil disaster but where is the next disaster coming from? There will be one. Are we exposed? Shouldn't we be preparing for it by reducing the deficit right now, letting tax money roll in and not a pie in the sky growth in productivity.